I know nothing about this, but spent yesterday evening with a guy who has a collection of scents that make mine seem paltry. He took me through various strange territories, one of the most interesting being Oud Ispahan by Dior. Intoxicating. He does some blending of his own as we'll, and gave me 100ml of his mixture of Vintage Tabarome, M. Balmain and a third which I don't recall, seeing as the Montrachet, white port and home blended scotch had flowed freely. It's got a brief citrus start from the Balmain but then becomes a heavy fruity oriental. It's not subtle, and would be guaranteed to offend someone!

In my innocence I had no idea what he was doing using vintage Tabarome! I hope there was just a little in the bottom of the bottle, as it seems sacrilegious to despoil such a valuable and no longer available scent.

Interesting mixture... I've never been attracted to the idea, nor that Tom Ford stuff about "layering". It seems a bit like introducing a drum machine into a Beethoven string quartet or a bass-viol-and-harpsichord continuo into Dave van Ronk's a capella version of Last Call.

Still, there are plenty of people who think me an arse for drinking mojitos made with cheap off-the-shelf mojito mix, Perrier water and Diplomatica Exclusiva dark rum. Screw 'em. I'd drink it with Diplomatica Ambassador if I had the money and could find the stuff anywhere. If it's worth paying for, it's worth spoiling.

So, hell. Maybe your chap's right. Maybe I'll shake up my 122-year-old Guerlain Hegemonienne with a dose of Brut and a good squirt of Schiaparelli Snuff from 1979, splash it on all over.

Bargepole wrote:So, hell. Maybe your chap's right. Maybe I'll shake up my 122-year-old Guerlain Hegemonienne with a dose of Brut and a good squirt of Schiaparelli Snuff from 1979, splash it on all over.

Although I am in the cheap scent league I am a retired chemist and I love playing around with new mixtures just to see what happens . I often mix some cologne that I hate with a strong cheap aftershave to see what happens. Today I blended a drop or two of Goop cologne or edt with a lot of Old Spice Fresh lime scent. It came out very strong and my wife told me not to get too close because she didn't want to get a headache. Later it settled down and I go used to it and at 4 pm I can no longer detect its presence. If anyone has that combination around (highly unlikely) please try it and report.

I have tried it once, and it turned out rather well. I think if you work with a simple scent (only a single note or two) it improves your chances for success...in my case it was sandalwood . I blended 5 parts Meehan's Bonny Doon Farm Sandalwood Cologne with 3 parts SCS Sandalwood edt from wood and 2 parts Profumum Roma Santalum . Using the Profumum in a blend created a little tension, but luckily I was pleased with the result; a fairly pure sandalwood with a touch of fresh grape (Meehan's), good longevity (SCS & Profumum) and a subtle aura of sophistication and wealth (Profumum). I believe all of the constituent parts are made with sandalwood essential oil of one sort or another...nice to keep it pure.
J.